Melaleuca hueglii
1 Comment »20th August, 2006; Category: Drought Tolerant Plants, Melaleuca, Plants With Bottlebrush Flowers
I do like this species. Ivan Holiday has written excellent books on the identification of these and the books are readily available.
Melaleuca hueglii is one that does very well here in dry and alkaline soils. This is quite a large shrub but accepts quite severe cutting to bare wood. There is a form which has pink buds that open to white flowers. It is best to trim these after flowering.
Melaleuca hueglii
Drought Tolerant Correas
Correas are lovely plants and a favourite of mine. There are so many forms and species and there are many very pretty hybrids. There are many drought tolerant ones that I know of. In general they all need good drainage. Trim the plants after flowering. Many can be trimmed to make good hedge plants.
Correa ‘Pink Mist’ has been around for years and is a very hardy small to medium shrub.
Correa 'Pink Mist'
Correa reflexa has many hardy forms and one is Correa reflexa ‘Sellick’s Beach’. This one is a good coastal plant and also a good understory plant, growing amonst mallee trees. It forms a low mound to about 30cm high and 1-2m wide. It has dark pink and yellow flowers.
Correa reflexa 'Sellicks Beach'
Drought Tolerant Plants With Bottlebrush Flowers
These plants are good value in any garden. Some flower twice in the year. The treatment for all is the same. At the end of flowering, trim the old flowers off to prevent seed pods forming and encourage new growth. The majority will flower on the next lot of growth. The more tips, the more flowers.
Callistemon viminalis
Callistemon viminalis is a popular small street tree here and is a picture in flower.
Callistemon phoeniceus
Callistemon phoeniceus is a medium shrub with fiery red brushes (sometimes pinkish red).
Calothamnus homolophyllus
Calothamnus homolophyllus is a small shrub with red one-sided bottlebrush flowers.
All of these grow well in alkaine soil, with reasonable drainage and of course would reach their maximum size if there was sufficient rain to push them along. They still grow well in our low rainfall area and in periods of very little rain as is the case this winter.
20 Drought Tolerant Australian Native Plants
5 Comments »17th August, 2006; Category: Drought Tolerant Plants
Darren Rowse at ProBlogger, the writer of a Blog that I periodically check, has asked folk to make a list of whatever suits their own blog and pass on a link. Some of these activities don’t suit my blog at all but lists are a different matter. I am constantly making lists of plants and seeds and cuttings so, because we have had so little rain this winter, a list of some of my favourite drought tolerant (after establishment) plants seems appropriate. Photos can be seen here.
20 Drought Tolerant Australian Native Plants
Alyogyne huegelii -large shrub
Billardiera (was Sollya) heterophylla Fine leafed form, dark blue flowers -twiner
Callistemon phoeniceus -large shrub
Callistemon viminalis -large shrub
Calothamnus homolophyllus -small shrub
Correa ‘Pink Mist’ -small shrub
Correa reflexa ‘Sellicks Beach’ -small shrub
Eremophila glabra prostrate, red flowered, grey leaf form -ground cover
Eremophila hillii various flower colours -small shrub
Eremophila subteretifolia -ground cover
Goodenia varia -ground cover
Grevillea lavandulacea (Monarto Form)-small shrub
Grevillea ‘Winpara Gem’-medium shrub
Grevillea thelemanniana hybrid -medium shrub
Melaleuca hueglii -large shrub
Melaleuca incana variety ‘Nana’ -small shrub
Melaleuca glaberrimma -small to medium shrub
Nematolepis phebaleoides -small shrub
Olearia picridifolia -small shrub
Scholtzia oligandra -small shrub
Senna sturtii -small to medium shrub
I did have the photos linked to each species named, until I realised that for the programme being used, I needed to save all the photos to another category called Drought Tolerant Native Plants. That is the next job.